A directive is the alternative to a block in a routine
declaration. A directive provides the compiler with information
about either a routine whose heading is declared separately from
its body (indicated by the FORWARD directive) or a routine that
is external to the Pascal program (indicated by the EXTERNAL,
EXTERN or FORTRAN directives). To specify a directive, include
it immediately after the routine heading and follow it with a
semicolon. The following describes the two classes of
directives.
o The FORWARD directive indicates a routine whose block is
specified in a subsequent part of the same procedure and
function section, allowing you to call a routine before you
specify its routine body. As an extension, VSI Pascal will
allow the body to be in a different declaration part. If
the body and heading are specified in different procedure
and function sections, a FORWARD declared function should
not be used as an actual discriminant to a schema type.
When you specify the body of the routine in subsequent code,
include only the FUNCTION or PROCEDURE predeclared
identifier, the routine-identifier, and the body of the
routine. Do not repeat the formal-parameter, the
attribute-list, or the result-type-id.
o The EXTERNAL, EXTERN and FORTRAN directives indicate that a
routine is external to a Pascal program. They are used to
declare independently compiled Pascal routines written in
other languages. For portability reasons, the FORTRAN
directive should only be used for external routines written
in FORTRAN.